


Addition/Subtraction

by Misschievously



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Gen, Little bit of angst, Mostly Science Bros Fluff, Platonic Relationships, Saw Thor: Ragnarok And Needed My Bros, Science Bros, Stark Tower
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-12
Updated: 2017-11-12
Packaged: 2019-02-01 03:39:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12696567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Misschievously/pseuds/Misschievously
Summary: Tony and Bruce talk science, at least on the surface. Post-New York, pre-Age of Ultron.





	Addition/Subtraction

A little electronic whistle drew Bruce's head up from his notes. Tony Stark stood standing just outside the lab doors, hands clenched patiently behind his back, rocking back and forth on his tennis-shoed heels.

  
"Can I come in?"

  
"Well, you do own the building."

  
Tony stepped across the threshold, eyes casually flicking from one floating holoscreen to the next as he sauntered across the lab. "Interrupting anything?"

  
Bruce shrugged a shoulder. "Nothing important."

  
“Are you sure? I wouldn’t want to break the flow…”

  
“No, it’s fine.”

  
"Good," Tony exhaled, his restraint evaporating as he bounced the rest of the way to where Bruce was seated. "I've got a problem."

  
"Just one?" Bruce asked, bemused, as the disheveled inventor plopped crosslegged onto the floor in front of him.

  
"Currently." Tony smiled and flicked open a large holoscreen schematic between them. A blue Iron Man suit materialized out of thin air. "I've been working on the initial specs of the new Mark. It's all kosher except the lower extremities don't function with maximum efficiency at the upper end of the stress spectrum, particularly the ground-maneuverability and in-flight banking exceeding 60 miles per hour, despite running the numbers on a couple variant designs."

  
Tony paused for breath as he highlighted the problematic results, the hologram casting into relief the dark circles under his eyes.

  
"Just a couple," Bruce repeated, dryly.

  
Tony scratched the back of his neck, guiltily. "Alright, maybe a couple...dozen."

  
"Mmm," Bruce acknowledged, spinning the projection counter-clockwise with his fingertips. He opened and closed a few panels of equations, peering over the top of his glasses at them and adjusting the variables up and down.  
"Here's the problem," he said, pointing. "By adding this extra booster section off the upper back, you've overencumbered the load bearing joints down here. She's top-heavy."

  
"Hmm," Tony scratched at his stubble thoughtfully. "I could try a stronger alloy for the joints, but that would increase the suit's overall weight by at least 150 pounds -"

  
Tony stopped short because Bruce was shaking his head.

  
"That's your issue, Tony. Your first thought is always what to add to fix the problem..." Bruce separated the booster section off the back of the armor. "...and not what you could take away."

  
Bruce digitally moved the main power generator from the back to the front of the suit, on either side of the arc reactor. "Now, you can recess the boosters into the back of the suit itself," he continued, overlaying the booster pack on the new blueprint with another swipe.

  
"Huh," Tony peered at the new schematic, "and that increases the energy delivery efficiency, too. Elegant."

  
Bruce adjusted his glasses back into place with a small smile before returning to his own pen and pad.

  
"You know," Tony began as he continued swiping around calculations, "me and a couple of the others were thinking of throwing a little shindig tomorrow evening. Just the core group. A celebration, sort of thing."

  
"Celebrating turning a small town into rubble?"

  
"Celebrating saving the entire population's lives, and besides," Tony shrugged, "we've had a good run, lately. Seemed like the thing to do."

  
"Seems like tempting fate."

  
"Fate!" Tony pulled an exaggerated face. "I'm shocked, doctor - and you, a man of science and reason and...reasonable science."

  
"Entropy, then," said Bruce, not looking up from his notes.

  
"You can work around entropy."

  
"Said the engineer to the nuclear physicist," Bruce quipped, but he smiled.

  
"Well, it'll be at seven and there will be chemicals - Thor seemed pretty excited about that since he regards most Earth drinks, except for coffee, as 'swill.' He didn't even like Yoohoo - I swear, it's like he's from another planet or something."

  
Bruce smirked. "Yeah, well. Thanks for the invite," he said, hoping that would put an end to the conversation. He still wasn't really used to being around the same people after the...other guy made an appearance, without them running away in terror at the sight of him. Even if they didn't, the uneasy tolerance of his presence wouldn't be any better. After a moment of silence, Bruce looked up to see the engineer gazing at him rather intently through the holo-projection.

  
"You know, Dr. Banner, there is one flaw with your redesign," Tony announced with irritating officiousness. Bruce watched as he enlarged the holo-schematic and pivoted the back to face him."The recessed boosters leave no room for the collapsable carbon-carbon re-entry shield I've been developing."

  
Bruce's glasses nearly slipped off his nose as his head snapped up.

"No," he said, incredulous.

  
"Oh, yes," Tony replied with a manic grin. He flicked open his hand and a corresponding holoscreen popped into existence, displaying a compartment which "opened" to reveal an expanding, conical shield that would envelop an entire Iron Man suit. Bruce leaned forward, taking in the equations as they scrolled down the side of the schematic and reflected onto his face.

  
"You see after I..." Tony swallowed, "...after New York, I started thinking about the survivability of atmospheric re-entry..."

  
"You've worked out the heat dispersal? What did you use for the inner layer - super non-conductive airgel?"

  
"Got it in one," Tony grinned. "As for the first bit, to be honest I haven't quite cracked it yet, but I'm close."

  
Bruce leaned back, impressed. “This is fantastic - if it works…”

  
"It could prove useful so that I don't turn into a piece of extra-crispy bacon if I ever have to fall from space for real and not through an alien wormhole in the sky. Oh, and NASA might find it useful, too, I guess. Just one problem - can't fit the compartment around the lower back as initially intended because of the recessed boosters, so..."

  
"The compartment would have to attach here,” Bruce marked the area on the holoscreen without missing a beat. “Just below the shoulder blades,.

  
Tony smiled. "Spoils the lines a bit, but if it's between that and the Many Disembodied Pieces of Formerly Tony Stark, I'll take it. Just don't tell anyone I went for function over aesthetic - I'd never live it down."

  
"Oh, no. Devastating to your public persona - I understand."

  
"Knew I could count on you, Banner," Tony yawned. Apparently, the mental block resolved, fatigue was finally getting ahold of the inventor. Truthfully, it looked like it had gotten ahold of him two days ago.

  
"I'm not exactly sure if I'm enabling you or helping you," Bruce said, then was surprised to realize he had said it aloud when Tony laughed.

  
"Both, maybe?" Tony maneuvered himself off the floor and stumbled toward a cushioned bench. "Probably. Definitely." He yawned again, prostrating himself with an undignified WUMP. "Perils of friendship with me, I think," he mumbled into the cushion. In another ten seconds, the genius billionaire playboy philanthropist was dead to the world.

  
Bruce shook his head. Sometimes he wondered how he had ended up here. New York City, of all places. Stark Tower, of all homes. An... Avenger, of all things. Trains of thought like these usually ended up with desire to withdraw, as if were all just a little too good to be true. As if, someday, he'd wake up in a strange place, alone amidst the destruction, and know that it was all gone.

  
Bruce pinched the bridge of his nose, a rather green distrust of his surroundings squirming at the edges of his mind.

  
“You know,” Tony mumbled, startling the doctor, “you don’t always have to subtract from the design. Sometimes more is better.”

  
Bruce studied the holo-schematics, still dancing before him. Tony had been right. The re-entry shields were a necessary - no, a critical - tactical support addition to the design. Bruce only had the vaguest sort of recollection of New York after a certain point. Lots of bright flashes, Loki making mouth noises at him, and a piercing sense of panic that momentarily overrode the wanton rage and hysterical glee when a streak of red had fallen from the sky. It was only later when he had briefly pulled Natasha aside that he had been able to piece the narrative of the battle together coherently. That, and when Tony had thanked him for saving his life.

  
The concept still seemed oxymoronic. But Tony had gone out of his way to say that if he hadn’t shown up to the party, it wouldn’t have just been him on the body count, but half the city.

  
Bruce found his gaze wandering over to the now definitely sleeping, and amusingly, drooling engineer. The thought made him both queasy and pleased at the same time. It had been a long time since he had felt anything but the former in regards to his other half.

  
Maybe he would go to that get-together after all.


End file.
